Open Data Innovation In Action: CODE Hackathon Breaks Records in its First Year & Becomes Largest Competitive Hackathon in Canada

Over 900 creative do-ers, movers and shakers across Canada worked
non-stop for 48-hours to create over 110 open data apps and hopefully
win the OpenText $25,000 Grand Prize

TORONTO, March 6, 2014 /CNW/ - Hosted by XMG Studio Inc., the creators
of the Great Canadian Appathon (GCA), and supported by the Government of Canada, the Canadian Open Data
Experience (CODE) challenged innovators across the country to test
their talent and liberate the data available on http://data.gc.ca. From February 28th to March 2nd more than 900 participants raced against the clock for the chance to
present their application at the CODE Grand Finale on March 28th in front of a live audience of investors and win over $30,000 in
prizes.

"Over 900 coders worked diligently over the past weekend to mash up and
re-purpose the federal government data available through data.gc.ca, in
turn creating some phenomenal apps that will benefit Canadians and
showcase our great Canadian talent," said the Honourable Tony Clement,
President of the Treasury Board and official facilitator of CODE.

CODE aims to inspire the next generation of tech entrepreneurs to take
advantage of the opportunity open data represents to spur innovation,
tackle social challenges and improve service delivery. The sky is the
limit when information, technology, creativity and brains come
together. Hopes are high that a number of the 110 submitted apps will
increase opportunities and constitute tools Canadians can use to make
day-to-day life easier.

To encourage the meaningful and productive use of the released datasets
CODE began with a day of thought-provoking quick-fire speeches from
renowned technology and open data industry leaders at the CODE Inspiration Day on February 28th, 2014. Supporters of the open data movement from McKinsey & Company, OpenText, IBM, Accel Partners, OneEleven and the Government of Canada spoke about the potential of open data and highlighted high-impact
areas for participants to lay their focus on. The Inspiration Day was live-streamed on the CODE website and officially ended with the
announcement of the CODE 2014 Theme by Minister Clement: "Solving
Problems and Increasing Productivity through the use of Open Data".

Following the event, the winning applications will be evaluated on
criteria such as the degree of innovation, usefulness to the Canadian
public, the level of art and design polish as well as stability and how
well open data sets were implemented. The top 15 teams will be
announced on March 17th and invited to pitch their apps during the CODE Grand Finale - a live judging event - to a panel of industry experts and potential
investors. The goal is to connect the Canadian entrepreneurs directly
to investment firms and venture capitalists to ensure their apps (or
ideas) are brought to market. The winning applications may go on to be
released commercially either independently by the participants or in
co-operation with a third party. All teams that successfully submitted
an application compete for Gold Sponsor OpenText's $25,000 Grand Prize,
as well as a $5,000 second place prize and a $1,000 third place prize.

About XMG Studio:
XMG Studio Inc. is an award-winning developer and publisher of mobile
games. Founded in late 2009, XMG has developed a track record for
innovation excellence in mobile gaming including the release of
critically acclaimed games downloadable on your iOS, Android, and
Windows Phone devices. Based in Toronto, XMG is one of the largest
indie mobile game studios in Canada. Named as one of the top global
mobile games developers to watch by popular media, XMG is focused on
providing creative expression through gameplay for all fans of fun.